Method of making metallic floats



Nov. 3, 1925' 1,560,017

c. c. CLELAND Er AL METHOD OF MAKING METALLIC FLOATS Filed Nov. 14 1924 j TF8 Patented Nov. 43, 1925.

N 1,560,011* uNrrlazn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

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appunti ma november 14,1994. I man ir. 749,841.'

To all lwho-mit 'muy concern:

Be it known that we, CHESTER C. CLELAND and JOHN C. MULLINNIX, citizens of the United States, and residents of Cleveland Il'eights and Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga, State of Ohio, respectivel have Jointly in` vented a new and usefu `Improvement 1n Methods of Making Metallic Floats, of which the following is a specilication,"the

1c principle of the invention being herein explained and the best mode in which we have contemplated applying thatiprinciple vso as to distinguish it from other inventions.

The present improvements relate more i5 particularly to metallic floats such as are employed in steam traps, water columns and the like. .A preferredmethod for makin such floats is by electro-plating a suitable hollow foundation since thereby an external 2o seamless metallic coat or coating is secured.

However, due to the fact that such an electrolated coating is substantially uniform, a difficulty has been encountered in thus making floats of oblong form in contradistinction to spherical or substantiall spherical form. In the case of floats o such last mentioned form, it is of course desirable.

that metal composing the shell of the float should be of uniform thickness; however, in

so the case of a float of elongated form, the

more or less straight .side portion requires to be reinforced in order to withstand the lcompression strains to which the float is subjected in service, or else if the shell is a5 made of uniform thickness throughout, the

ends will include much more metal than is necessary. y

In the case of oblong floats made by assembling two half shell portions, it has been to customary to reinforce the sides by soldering or otherwise lixedly attaching an encircling band to the float midway between its ends. By our present improved method of manufacture, we provide for an integral e5 reinforcement of the sort described by. electro-depositing an extra thickness of metal about such intermediate side portion of the ioat. This is-done incidentally to the electro-plating of the float in its entirety and so does not require any additional operation.

while by thus integrally incorporating in the shell the additional metal required to give the necessary resistance to compression strains, a much morev durablev ter appearing float is produced.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing` and related ends, the invention, then, consists of the means and steps hereinafter fully as well as described and particularly pointed out in, i

g the type in question suspended therein so as to receive a coating of graduated thickness such as described above; and Fi 2 is an axial section of such float in finised form.

The core 1 (see Fig. 2), upon which the metallic shell or coating requires to be electro-deposited, is of the oblong form which it is desired the finished article should have. Such core, in other words, consists of substantially h'emispherical ends connected by an intermediate cylindrical portion and may be made out of any suitable material, as for example celluloid, molded wood pulp, or the like. It will be understood, of course, that the exterior surface of the core will be suitably prcpared so that when such core is immersed in an electrolytic bat-h, as shown in Fig. l, and a suitable electric current is passed through such bath from a metallic electrode 2 to the core, the desired metal will be deposited on the core.

In order properly to suspend the core in the bath, as well as for the purpose of attaching to the same when completed a suitable stem, a nipple 3 is attached to one end of said core by means of a spud 4, the latter being formed to seat in an aperture 5 in such end such as is necessarily left where the core is of molded plastic material. rlhere will also be superiicially attached to the other end'of the core a second nip le 6, similar to nipple 3, said nipple 6 being utilized merely in the electro-plating operation, as will now be explained.

The core is suspended in the bath by means of a stem 7 of good conducting material through which electric connection is had, such stem initially having threaded en gagement with either nipple 3 or 6 indiferently. It will be understood that the stem is rotatablyv supported and that it will be provided at its upper end with a pulleyA 8.01` equivalent means, whereby it, together with the attached core common axis. '.'lhe core will be thus suspended, as clearly shownin Fig. 1, so that the upper hemispherical end vwill lie above the normal level'of the liqjuid composin the bath and the coating initially deposite on A coatin the core will henceextend over the lower hemispherical end and theintermediate cylindric'al portion only. After a short interval, however, the core is detached from stem 7 and its position reversed, the stem now being engaged with the opposite nipple whereupon the electrolating operation is resumed. As a resu t, the hemisphericalend that previously projected above the level of the bath will now receive an initial metallic coat, while the `intermediate cylindrical portion will receive a second coat. A in, after a corresponding interval, the positlon of the float is reversed so thatit is disposed as 1n the first sta e of the operation and so on until the e'ns are coated with a suiiicient thickness of metal to withstand whatever .'degree of com ression the finished article.

be r uire to sustain. bious y the intermediate cylindrical portion of the float will have received a 10- of metal about twice as thick as the en s and such intermediate portion will be correspondingly stronger and so able to resist the same compression strains as the ends, despite the fact that due to its .form

, such portlon is normally not as strong as the may be rotated about their rectly to the outer surface of spuds 4 and to the exterior surface of nipple 3. The metal will similarly build-up on nipple 6, but the latter will ordinarily be cut QE flush with the coat onthe adjacent hemispherical end of the float and such end polished off in the final finishing operation.v It willbe understood, of course, that whichever `one of the nipples hap ens to Vbe immersed, the inte-` rior threade portion of such nipple will be required to be sealed olf so as to prevent the deposit of metal therein.

The construction of the float asan article of manufacture 'forms the subject-matter of our co-pendin divisional application filed June 8, 1925, erial No. 34,620.

Otherforms may be employed embod ing the features of our invention instead o the one here explained, change bein made in the form of construction, provided the ste stated by any of the following claims or t e I equivalent of such stated steps be employed.

lWe therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as our invention :f-

1. In a process for making an article 'of the character described, the steps which consist in partially "immersing a suitable core in an electrolytic bath, electro-depositing a metal coating on the immersed portion of such core, 4then reversing the position of the latter, electro-depositing another coating, and so on until an integral shell of varying thickness is built up, substantially as described.

2. In a process for making an article of the character described, the steps which c onsist in partially immersing a suitable core of oblong form in an electrolytic bath, one end of such core projecting above the bath, elec-V tro-depositing a metal coatin on the emmerse portion of such core, t en reversing the position ofthe latterso as to leave the other end thereof project above the bath, electro-depositing another coating, and so on until an integral shell is built up havin the desired thickness at the respective en s of the core and an increased thickness in the portion intermediate of such ends.

Signed by us this 8 day of November, 1924.

CHESTER C. CLELAN D. JOHN C. MULLINN IX. 

